An Orc, an Elf and a half, a Pixe and a Dragonborn walk into a bar. The bartender asks, "What is this, a joke?"

Perhaps problems sometimes resolve themselves?

A "ribbeting" experience

Lyel bids the group farewell and set off for town, vanishing through the brush. The group turns their attention to the circle as the stones wait in respectful silence. Balgur attempts to use his knowledge of the natural world and prays to Balinor for some direction, but the quiet overwhelms his senses and he hears no response.

The others talk amongst themselves. Amanita notes that the stones are in an oval, with a single stone immersed in the water centered between them. From what he’s heard, this particular stone is the focal point for channeling druidic influence and has been used as such for years. Vio glances over thoughtfully, steps to the stone, and closes his eyes. Immediately he feels a sense of peace and tranquility. His torso rotates slightly northwards and he feels drawn upstream.

“I think we may find some answers upstream.”

Balgur stalks ahead, scouting the area before them.

brgraawwwk brop brop

As he turns a bend he is greeted by a three-foot tall frog-like humanoid. It holds a crude spear out at him confusedly.

brop curgrop

Meanwhile, Amanita has noticed some kind of arcane presence from further up the river. He can see Balgur in the distance, but is unable to make out what has halted him. He, Ellia, and Vio all move forward.

Ellia recognizes the creature. “It’s a Bullywug!” she says. “But wait, they usually live in larger groups. Why would there be just one ou…” Her voice trails off. “Uh-oh.”

BLOORP glop GRAWP blorb brop!

A dozen Bullywugs burst from the treeline, surrounding the Orc and his wolf in the river! Lo’gar takes a spear to the side as Balgur tries to back into a more favorable posiition.

A large Bullywug, garbed in robe and hoisting a glowing wooden staff shoots a green bolt at Balgur. It connects, sending him reeling. It croaks victoriously. GLOORPK!

Balgur attempts to return fire but misses. Regaining composure, he concentrates on the spellcaster. Nearby tree roots shoot across the ground, entangling themselves at the feet of the Bullywugs in the river, rendering their aquatic advantage useless.

Meanwhile, Vio has established himself amongst five of the creatures, wading directly into the middle of the fray. He raises up his flail; it begins to glow with a holy light and illuminates the inside of a Bullywug skull. Nearby, Ellia smashes a Bullywug, causing it to crumple, then turns and slams another with her shield.

Amanita pulls a small leather satchel from his belt, tossing at a collection of four frogs in the middle of the battle. It explodes on contact, sending a shower of firefly sparks into the air. Distracted, tongues shoot up at the flickering lights. They connect with nothing. Four sets of pupils dilate to ultraviolet; moments later, four bodies fall to the ground.

A Bullywug charges wildly at the Pixie, slicing and jabbing at the air. He clips a wing and knocks Amanita to the ground. A long sticky tongue lolls out of its mouth. It shoots forward, capturing Amanita in an unpleasant wafting stench of saliva and insect parts.

The staff-wielding frog shifts back slightly and then launches a ball of fire and lightning. It hisses and sizzles as it connects with the river, as well as all four adventurers. GLOORPK! GLOORPK! it shrieks in glee. Lo’gar takes the hit full force and falls into the shallows with a splash. Balgur screams, firing and lodging an arrow into “Gloorpk’s” left arm.

Amanita – being larger than the standard meals this frog is used to – manages to contort his body and break free of its hold. He flies backwards, hovering over Balgur for safety. He grabs a pinch of powdered mushroom from his belt and blows it through his hand. His captor from earlier envisions glowing sparks around him, and they look tasty. He tries to grab at Amanita again, but connects with a spark instead and croaks.

Vio pauses to heal himself, and then dispatches the last of the smaller frogs. Ellia heals Amanita and charges the leader, delivering a solid hit. Amanita notices a small runic circle and ventures into it. Balgur follows with another attack, sending a shower of blood into the river. Gloorpk retorts with a wave of lighting sparks from his staff. His movement hindered, he slowly backs further up the river.

Flail in hand, Vio charges. Amanita fires an invisible bolt of force which connects at the same time, briefly disorienting the Bullywug Chieftain. Ellia attempts to finish him off. She swings mightily, but overshoots. Using her momentum, she redirects the movement in a backhand motion and manages to catch the frog in the chest.

Gloorpk is resilient, however, and scrambles to his feet. He casts a final blast as a distraction. He then turns around, scampering up the stream through a waterfall.

Balgur roars, and charges behind, leaping up into the falls. A dark cave restricts his vision, but does not deter his bloodlust. He reaches into his quiver, grabs an arrow and stabs into the darkness. It hits flesh. He pulls the arrow back towards him. A single dead frog is attached. The arrow is ripped out, licked clean of its gore, and placed back in the quiver. The body is unceremoniously thrown back through the rushing water, floating a few feet before washing up on the bank. Behind the falls an Orcish silhouette can be seen, shoulders rising and falling heavily.

Balgur leaps down and sprints to the side of his wolf companion, putting his hand on its side. Still breathing, but weak. Eyes closed, he whispers a prayer to Balinor. Lo’gar stirs. Balgur pulls a mole-a-pede leg out of his pack, placing it under the wolf’s nose. Lo’gar sniffs, grabs it, and stands up gingerly. Blood and water are sprayed everywhere in a fine mist as he shakes out his fur. He raises up his snout, opening his mouth: Haaa-wooooooooo!

Amanita, oblivious to the others, stares intently at the runic circle and speaks to no one in particular: “Interesting. Perhaps the Bullywugs were drawn here. These stones aren’t humming either. Maybe it has to do with the wisps?”

Ellia and Vio examine the body of the chieftain. His staff appears normal, as do his clothes. The exception is a pair of rusted silver armbands, which Vio removes and equips. Just his size.

The sun disappears behind the trees, leaving the sky painted in hues of reds and pinks. Camp and a rest is needed, so a fire is set and bedrolls unpacked. The circles, runes, stones and caves can wait until the morning.

I hope Dirk has a Pria-nup

Dawn breaks as the adventurers sally forth, plodding back towards the druid circle. Balgur has Pria slung over his shoulder, while Dirk travels at point with Vio. He looks concerned and Vio attempts to sate his fears. Ellia and Amanita chip in some good will as well. Balgur, on the other hand, isn’t interested. He opts instead for less-than-gentle mocking, making fun of the Pria-dicament.

Dirk responds aggressively, necessitating an intervention from Vio. Dirk rolls his eyes and mutters under his breath. The phrase sounds something like “mucking brick dorks” but no one is really sure what he was saying.

The group arrives to a near silent grove; only the gentle trickling of the stream and some errant bird calls can be heard. Ellia notes to the group that the humming of the stones has subsided.

Balgur says nothing and much shuffling of feet occurs. Amanita breaks the awkward quiet and calls out for Lyel, but no response is heard. The group asks Dirk if he’d like to bring Pria to town. He responds with a yes, so long as Pria isn’t tossed about again. With a new destination in mind, they head back east to Mosstone.

A few minutes out of town where the wood becomes less dense, Lo’gar senses something. Balgur then notices it as well. An Orc is somewhere nearby.

THUNK! A bone-handled axe embeds itself in in a nearby tree. An Orc, eight feet tall and strangely handsome steps from the shade.

“Ha! Thought you might want that back, Balgur. What brings you out here? And with a harem of weaklings to boot. Can’t you get anything done on your own?” He spits on the ground.

Balgur ignores his bait. “No concern of yours, Drûl. What are you doing here?”

“No concern of yours. Seen your little friend Dura lately?”

“What did you just say to me?”

“Ha! She was even weaker than you!” With that, he turns and vanishes into his tent. Balgur wonders aloud why he would be this far away from the clan and his words linger into silence.

Amanita breaks the awkwardness once again, suggesting they make haste to Plix. They arrive at the Gnome’s home. Plix hears the story, and extends an embarrassed apology to Dirk. He offers to put them up in the inn until Lyel can be located, then shuffles nervously.

Glancing towards his workbench, his expression turns from unease to excitement.

“Ellia, my dear! Take this! I insist. Take it, take it!” Ellia steps to the bench, leans down, and picks up the shield Plix wildly gestures towards. Triangular and silvered, it is emblazoned with a moon.

“Erm.. what is it?”

“Oh my dear, it’s a shield! Look, touch it here and … it lights the room! I located and used some special ore mined up … well, anyway, it doesn’t really matter. Just use it and I’m sure it’ll serve you well.”

“Ah, well. Thank you, Plix. We should probably be off.”

“Of course, of course. I’ll be here, we’ll keep checking on Pria and Dirk. If you could go find Lyel – he was around a bit earlier – then we’ll get her all fixed up!” Plix nods, smiles, and waves as the group departs for the Stone’s Throw Inn.

Pria is given a room and lain on the bed – Dirk stays with her. Meanwhile, the group takes a meal and discusses their next plan. They opt for a short nap before returning to find Lyel. Before leaving, Ellia checks in on Dirk. Nothing has changed, but he brightens a bit at her concern.

At the druid circle, Lyel is present and meditating once again. Vio recounts some of the story of the wisps, mentioning only that Pria has taken ill, and requests that Lyel go tend to Pria.

“Of course, but I’d ask you do me a favor. You must have noticed that the stones have ceased their humming – could you investigate why this has happened? I’ll watch over the girl and see what I can do while you’re gone. You seem to have an affinity for… let’s not say stirring up trouble. Let’s say … an affinity for anomalies.”

Mole-a-pedes and glowing women

Having released the wisp to Ioun-knows-where, the party traverses back through the ancient stone tunnels to their point of entry. The lights have extinguished. Lo’gar can be heard whining from above. Ellia casts Sun’s Glow in the room, spreading light through the muddy cave. Fresh tracks.

Ellia looks worried. “We better get up there quickly,” she suggests.

As if on cue, scuttling can be heard from the corridors. Vio and Balgur rush into the middle of the room to grab the rope, and Vio is slammed by an enormous brown creature nearly 8 feet long. It’s part mole and part centipede head and front segments are bent upwards. Rows of circular teeth drip a green poison and several sharp claws for digging and slashing. The centipede rears back and chomps at Vio once again – he becomes poisoned and reels slightly.

A second mole-a-pede appears and attacks Ellia, poisoning her as it sinks its teeth into her exposed arm. Meanwhile, Balgur looses a half dozen arrows, all of which miss. Amanita, seeing the group struggling and not wanting to be made into a snack, calls out for everyone to back into the tunnels to fight more cohesively and limit the centipede movement. He tosses a pouch of dust at Ellia, allowing her to float backwards and take up a defensive posture. As she retreats back into the corridor, she calls upon Pelor and heals herself and Vio while purging their bodies of the poison.

Balgur steps backwards as well, firing and finally connecting. His mole-a-pede loses an antenna and starts to frenzy. Lo’Gar howls from above, clearly wanting to fight with his master. Amanita looses a phantom cage from his position in the rear, confounding one of the creature. It tries to escape from its imagined prison, but overloads its brain in the attempt to skirt past. It falls to the ground in a heap.

Ellia steps forward and careens her mace into the second mole-a-pede, sending green-brown plasma flying onto the wall. Vio, having taken the most focus and feeling vindictive raises his enormous flail overhead and brings it smashing down on the final creature, snuffing out its life.

A cautious rest commences, and Balgur reaches over to grab a few trophies – mole-a-pede legs. Amanita notices that an antenna is still wriggling on the ground. It seems to emanate some magical power. He picks it up and realizes that somehow it must have been affected by the nearby wisps. As the stalk wriggles in his hand, he can feel his power magnified by it and decides to use it as his new wand.

Amanita flies up through the crack and the rest quickly ascend the rope. Lo’gar leaps toward Balgur, who throws him a leg. Lo’gar quietly munches on the stack.

Vio suggests they return to Dirk and Pria, so everyone leaves the basement and enters the house. It’s still dark out, but nearing morning. They go upstairs, but before they can wake either human a bright light fills the room. Through the window the enormous wisp can be seen.

The light awakens Dirk and Pria. “What’s that?!”

The wisp takes a position over the top of the house, lending a soft glow to the yard. Suddenly, it’s phased through the roof, filling the room with blinding whiteness.

The whiteness dissipates and everyone rubs their eyes. The wisp is nowhere to be seen. Pria has lain back down on the bed.

“What was that?!” shouts Dirk. Vio tries to calm him, but as he speaks Pria sits up. Her eyes glow white. She opens her mouth to speak, looking directly at Amanita.

“Thank… You.” Her eyes close, and she collapses back onto the bed.

Dirk continues his confused shouts as Ellia and Vio try to recap: They explain the humming lights, the crack and cave below the house (determining also that Dirk had no knowledge of it), and the trapped giant wisp. It is suggested that they leave immediately since Pria does not seem to be in a right state. Vio offers a prayer to Erathis for protection, placing a hand on Pria’s shoulder.

CRACK! A rumble and the sound of stones shifting comes from the basement. Dirk refuses to leave until the noise is investigated so Amanita flies in quickly. Somehow, the crevasse has bonded back together! Satisfied, though still confused and frightened, Dirk acquiesces.

Balgur places Pria over his shoulder, and the group treads north to the humming stones.

He pokes into Balgur’s bag and fishes out the spider fangs and web. “Yes, yes. Here it is. Give me those. No sense fighting. This will be fun. Meet me at my home later! It’s the one with lilacs out front! East side of town. Later. Later!”

After a brief discussion and bout of confusion, the group finds out Plix paid for their lunch and rooms. They retire and take a short nap.

A few restful hours later, they leave for Plix’s house. He grants Balgur a bow, made from the web and fangs. Balgur thanks him. “Orcs often give gifts of weapons as a show of friendship. What can we do for you?”

Plix shifts, and looks towards the back of the room towards a hovering Pixie.

“Well, funny you should ask, and my gesture was meant as goodwill and not intended, but we have heard of some happenings with the homesteaders. If you wouldn’t mind, would you check it out? Go see Lyel in the druid circle, he should have more information. Amanita… would you accompany them please?”

Amanita sighs, agrees to help, and leads them to the circle. Upon arrival, they see Lyel meditating amidst the moss covered stones. A low-intoned humming permeates the area. None wish to disturb the druid, so Amanita projects the sound of a cracking branch to alert him. Lyel smiles and opens his eyes. “How can I help you all? Hello Amanita.”

After explaining Plix’s request, Lyel explains that some of the nearby homesteaders have been seeing strange lights at night, that hum in a way similar to the stones here. “You could probably drop by to meet one of the residents, and perhaps catch the lights as well. There are a pair of humans nearby, you could reach them in about 30 minutes.”

Lyel gives directions to the log cabin. They travel further southward to get there, and Vio knocks on the door.

“No solicitors.”

“Ah, we’re here about the lights actually.”

“Why didn’t you say so? Come in.”

The man introduces himself as Dirk, and his wife as Pria. As Balgur and the wolf come inside, they spook Pria. She yelps and scurries into the kitchen as they move wordlessly to a corner.

Pria returns with tea, providing some to Amanita in a thimble while taking a wide berth around the wolf and orc. Dirk explains their situation. The two had moved into the cabin Dirk had recently finished building, hoping to start a family. Vio compliments the woodcraft and Dirk looks pleased.

Amanita recognizes that Pria is pregnant, though he doesn’t mention it to the group. The two go upstairs for the evening, while the group stands watch.

Each of the party takes a window as night falls. A single bright light – about a foot in diameter – appears outside the window where Amanita is sitting. Unfortunately, he has fallen asleep. Startled awake, he regains his composure. He turns towards it and it hums at him slightly off key. He calls Vio over and the two observe the light. Amanita recognizes it as a wisp. Everyone moves outside, and more appear, closing in on the group. They retreat inside. The wisps come to each of the windows, so the group moves to the cellar.

Ellia lights up the room, which reveals assorted furniture, food, and boxes. A chasm had also opened up in the floor. A sunrod is dropped inside, falls into the water and muck thirty feet down. There’s a cavern underneath the cellar!

Amanita flutters down inside and calls back that the coast is clear. The group follows via a rope, leaving Lo’Gar in the cellar. Inside they notice some natural burrows with tracks suggesting multiple legs and claws made for digging but the creatures are nowhere to be found. A carved stone passageway to the east is also present. The group follows this path, noting that it must have been some ancient tunnel based on the markings and structure. It opens up to an underground cavern.

The cavern glows with an eerie light which ends abruptly in the center of the cavern. A runed circle surrounds a well – the hole is filled with an opaque blackness. Amanita goes to take a closer look, and accidentally touches the ring. FWOOSH – The entire cavern lights up as the circle extends to the ceiling. A statue in the rear of the chamber is illuminated as a result. It’s composed of three dragon heads split apart in a triangle; their bodies are entwined and their tails are knotted together. Balgur jumps up on it and the light immediately disperses. It returns as he jumps off, but not before he twists his ankle.

Upon closer inspection, the statue’s tail knot appears to be a switch. When the switch is pressed, the runed circle’s light is extinguished. When released it expands upwards in a burst of light. The room alternates between light and dark as the group experiments . Four wisps appear and center on the statue – one at each dragon’s mouth, with the last floating above the tail knot. Ellia presses down on a tail, and it is discovered that the tails work as switches. More trial and error leads to all three tails pressed down, with Amanita activating the tail knot.

FWOOSH – the room is illuminated and the darkness over the circle dissipates. A humongous wisp – roughly fifteen times larger than the others – floats out of the well, glowing white, green and blue. It tries to communicate: whistle hum hum whistle.

The party observes the new arrival and puzzles over it as it continues to hum and whistle. Deciding they can’t understand it and determining it and its smaller versions harmless, they opt to return to town to report what they’ve found. Not wanting to leave the wisp out of its protective well, they flick the tails back up and prepare to push the button.

FWOOSH – the runic circle expands, and the giant wisp ascends through the ceiling!

The four look to each other in worry, with clear expressions of “Uh-oh. What did we just do?”

Spiders. It had to be spiders.

After a fair night’s rest, the camp arose to find only three of the evening’s party remained. Veraline had slipped away in the night, leaving no trace.

Balgur wasted no time in rousing from his sleep, and immediately set forth to the east following Lo’Gar. Vio and Ellia fell in step behind, chatting. After a time, Vio caught sign of what looked to be a struggle: imprints in the dirt, dragmarks to the north. Someone had been here and caught aware. Their attention turned northward, the three came across a small glen around midday. The sun glistened off of what seemed to be an intricate network of silken web. Spiders. It had to be spiders.

A muffled struggle sounded from further north. Stepping carefully around the webbing, a silken cocoon could be seen hanging from a tree by a single large thread. The victims attempts to break free looked feeble – disorganized thrusts and quiet sobbing had not yet won freedom. Balgur climbed the tree swiftly, and cut the sac from the tree. It fell to the ground with a thud. Another quick slice from his knife revealed a sweating and terrified Beren.

“Where is my axe?!” Balgur roared, pinning him to the tree’s trunk. It had been lost, Beren explained, when he was catpured. He’d only taken it for protection, as he had no weapons save his staff. How could they have left him alone as the goblins attacked?

Vio stepped up, attempting to calm the orc’s ire: “Beren, what you did was wrong. Why steal his gold if all you wanted was a weapon? Regardless, you’ll return it, and thank your graces that we were able to find you.”

Balgur snorted, ripped the coin pouch from Beren’s waist, and removed the gold that had been stolen from him. He dropped the rest on the ground and it scattered at Beren’s feet. “Get out of here. If I see you again, you’ll wish the spiders had killed you first.” Balgur narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth, as Lo’Gar growled menacingly beside him. “GO!”

Beren sprinted south, away from his saviors. He stumbled, promptly caught himself in a web, and began to thrash wildly. The webs pulled and twisted around him, while the strands in the trees oscillated his capture. Sighing, Ellia stepped forward and attempted to free him, while Vio continued to try and talk him down. Balgur notched two arrows, breaking the anchor points of the web higher in the tree. If he didn’t stop acting like a food, they’d all be dead meat.

On cue a few moments later, three enormous spiders leapt from the trees, and attacked their prey. The largest of the three, black with splotches of green and dark violet, hissed and clicked as it assessed the scene – more prey than expected, but not all ensnared. Caught by surprise and vexed by their speed in the webbing, the adventurers. Beren screamed loudly, ripping himself free and promptly grabbing the spiders’ attention. They caught his elbow and dragged him to the ground. Vio and Ellia stepped closer to protect him, sharing their healing magic and trying to attract the attention of the spiders.

A blue mist, rising slowly from a crack in the ground, helped to conceal their own movement and hide Beren, but it worked to the spiders’ advantage as well. Miss after miss plagued the three, as each spider worked in concert to take attacks from behind. Finally, a series of fortunate bolts and arrows from Ellia and Balgur started to connect with the spiders. One of the smaller spiders dropped, then another. The leader of the brood saw her brethren fall, and started to scurry back to the safety of the web and treetops.

Thwunk. A final arrow from Balgur pinned her to the tree. With a high-pitched screeee, its legs went limp. Balgur ripped the head off as a trophy – the rest of the body hung there as a grotesque warning sign.

Exhausted, the group nursed their wounds. Were it not for the webs and acrid scent of dead and dying spiders, this would have been a beautiful spot. Axe still missing, Balgur moved south, back to the path where Beren had been caught and presumably where the axe was lost. The others cautioned Beren to stay close behind, but not so close as to enrage the orc.

“You should think on what you’ve done. We’ll see you to the next town or trading post, and then, perhaps, never again.”

Lo’Gar picked up another trail, and the rest of the walk to Mosstone was uneventful, save for the quiet thankful murmurings of the half-elf behind them.

Beren's a scaredy-cat, right?

South of the Great Swamp of Darmass, where the bog turns to temperate forest, a pair of travelers – a female Elven cleric and a Halfling paladin both devoted to their Gods – set up camp for the evening. They came across a few tents, a roaring fire and a timid Half-Elf tradesman named Beren. After introductions (her Ellia, and he Vio) they learned he was headed to Cardiss in the West to sell his wares. He then admitted he was actually the second to make camp there, after baying of wolves had convinced him to stop for the evening.

Suddenly, out of the brush, an enormous wolf did in fact appear. Beside him was an equally enormous Half-Orc.

“What are you doing here?! Lo’Gar will tear you apart.”

Beren, lips quivering, explained that he had merely stopped to make camp, and that it looked as if there would be room for another and if it would please the good Orc, that he be allowed to stay.

“Just don’t get in my way. I’m tracking something important to me, and my clan.”

The conversation, now more stressed than before, continued. Balgur sold his day’s kills – three wolf pelts – to Beren. Ellia and Vio tried to maintain an air of civility, but the Orc made it difficult.

Meanwhile, a half-Drow witch from the swamp spotted the group while foraging ingredients and reagents. Interesting. I wonder what they’re doing here.

Stepping from the darkness she made herself known, startling Beren further and reducing him to a stammering pile of jelly. Balgur called out to her, and threatened to send his wolf at her. She laughed while looking at the beast; it looked back, ventured over for a sniff, received a pat on the head, and returned to lounging by the fire. She introduced herself as Veraline (with a slight hiss to boot) and just as introductions went round again, the group paused. Crackling leaves and snapping twigs could be heard from beyond a small wall north of the camp.

Vio attended to the whimpering tradesman as the others snuck up to the wall. Goblins. It was Goblins, planning an attack, and not exactly stealthily. Balgur hoisted the group up the wall and then climbed it himself. The ambushers were ambushed, and dispatched handily.

Upon returning to the campsite, Beren was discovered missing, along with Balgur’s prized handaxe (a dangerous weapon intricately carved from bone, that was also a gift from a friend) and his store of gold. Lo’Gar had the scent (which was headed not to Cardiss, but to Mosstone in the East), but the group decided to rest – the tracking could wait, and certainly Beren was not dangerous. Right?